Surreal Pizza Shop (sunset corner)

Riding my bike out to the pizza shop, and I saw a tangerine sun setting on the corner. It was what I saw and it was not what I saw. I painted  it and I did not paint it. In fact, surrealism was real, at least partly. Headlights helped the cars find their way, but the pizza took a little while longer than expected. Had I ordered pizza than maybe I would have thought about eating it. Order now from PJD's surreal pizza shop in Montreal.  

Surreal Pizza Shop (sunset corner), watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, July 2026

Corner eats, twilight, gas station night

Here is a twilight painting done on location in ville st Pierre, the corner restaurant is actually a Boustan's Lebanese joint. In the interior, I replicated Edward Hopper's famous Nighthawks painting with four figures in roughly the same positions. The rest of the scene shows cars, red brick buildings, and the gas station see off to the left. 

Corner eats twilight, watercolour 8 x 11" cold press, July 2026

 

Another classic restaurant, La Belle Province with the highway overpasses in the background, and a half moon hanging low in the sky. The moon was much higher than this, but I pulled it into the scene using my artistic license! The chef came out and took a look on a smoke break. 

Half moon over La Belle Province, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

The bright lamps of the highway were dancing in the sky along with the half moon. Below, some of the shops on st Jacques street, complete with some PJD26 graffiti. The corner of La Belle Province is seen on the lower left of the scene. 

Moon lamps over highway, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Lastly, I completed this painting of the ESSO gas station sign, changed to PJD, along with a green traffic light. It was a tough scene to complete on location and I was tired, but finished the sky strong with a number 2 brush and the illusion came together nicely. Punk rock paintings!

Gas station sign lights, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Sunset trees flowers Lachine canal

With the sunset down at Lachine canal came pink cotton candy clouds against a pale blue sky. In the foreground, a grassy field was full of yellow buttercups, illuminated by setting sunlight. 

Pink sky yellow buttercups, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

In the other direction, next to the canal, were these three trees, a mix of olive green and yellow-orange. Using a variety of brush techniques helped build up the complex tree textures. Yellow flowers were painted over the green grass with opaque bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184).

Three trees near canal, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

This large tree had a neat pastel colour against the pastel sky. Some bright yellow grass and a winding bike path completed the scene. 

Pastel tree sundown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Since I am painting on the backs of old paintings, this one had a doodle based on an early abstract painting I did in 1999 called sun earth moon. Incorporating the doodle into a sunset scene created an interesting surrealistic effect.  

Sunset earth moon, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Views at Coffee park, Westehaven neighborhood

With rain on tap I stayed close to home after work and made a few paintings, including this one of an oncoming commuter train. I had to paint fast! Just kidding, I was sitting in coffee park at a picnic table thinking about how dull the scene was, then decided to re-imagine the perspective to make it more exciting. 

Oncoming commuter train, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

At the end of Elmhurst, corner of st Jacques, there is a small Dépanneur called Saga, with an oversized sign. I composed the scene without any road or sidewalk, so as to focus on the sign and perspective of the condo building. 

Dépanneur Saga sign, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Across the street at the Parmalat factory there are shiny milk trucks parked, getting loaded up. This factory has an alarm siren system, if we hear it blare in NDG we are supposed to close the windows. Who knew milk was so dangerous?

Milk truck rear, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

The old Motel st Jacques is all boarded up and covered in graffiti. Construction of a nearby condo removed the street access and front reception, so just the boarded up rooms remain. It advertised having a TV, which gives you an indication of how old this motel was. 

Motel PJD26, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Across the street still on st Jacques, this condo had burned out at the rear, causing a tree to get scorched, and the fire escape to twist into a gnarled metal sculpture. As I stood painting, the whole thing smelled musty, it must have terrible water damage inside too. 

Burned condo rear, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026 

Looking Back: London Ontario, shadow, sunset, trees

Here are some more of the old collection from my age of early 20's. I date them as 2000 and x (200x) because I don't have records of when they were done actually, although the style give clues. This one was a later piece, it shows my shadow stretching down a hill near a Thames river tributary, with some geese off in the distance. I used to paint sitting down in a small camping chair, so you see that here in the shadow. 

Geese my shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 200x

I recognize this as the Thames river closer to downtown where they built a steep concrete embankment to prevent flooding. Getting an effect like this was a big challenge back then, it looks like I applied a cerulean blue and rose madder genuine mix in the sky, blotted it out with a tissue or brush, then applied a pink wash over top, likely rose red (PV19) which I had in my palette. For a recent painting that is similar see the auto shop sunset. 

Pink clouds near Thames, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 200x

There were plenty of birch trees to paint, this one on a sunny day shows a nice blue shadow effect and autumn colours in the background. I managed to capture the light reflecting in the shadows of the tree trunks, creating a glow-effect. 

Birch tree park path, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 200x

 

Its rare I paint scenes of art installations, I did one recently of the art installations near Fort street.  In the above painting, its downtown London Ontario, near a public building, I liked the blue shadow and fleshy pink tones. The hand railing with shadow was a nice touch. You can see I signed the paintings instead of initialing as I do recently. You can see a summary of how my signing evolved over time in this blog. 

Pink sculptures, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 200x

 

It was obliged to post this painting, on the back I wrote something to the effect that it was extremely *** cold today! I recall sitting in the little camping chair freezing my rear off to get it done, and without salt at the time, I added alcohol. It worked out okay, this was done on part of University of Western campus, near Brescia college. 

Winter tree cold day, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, 200x

Remaining downtown paintings from Sunday

At one of the underground highway exits there are electrical panels attached to the concrete structure. In the background you see down town and part of the Bell Center where the Habs play. 

Underground exit electrical panels, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

Another exit, this one near de la Montagne street, it was in a dark blue shadow which made the yellow sign and cars pop out in contrast. In the fore-grond is the flower field. These are all from yesterday morning. 

Underground exit blue shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Here is another closed dépanneur, on st Antoine, corner with Vinet. A quick search suggests this could have been 2430 st Antoine, Depanneur Hui Ya, but its long been closed now. There used to be a tent encampment under the bridge here, maybe that was the customer base, and now the encampment is gone. 

Another closed dépanneur, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Here is the view in the other direction, along with my shadow in the foreground. The painting on the back, from London Ontario, also had my shadow which gave me the idea. I'll post more London Ontario paintings this week. 

Under highway my shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Finally an open dépanneur in st Henri neighborhood, its called  YoYo and I did a painting of it at night a few years ago, seen in the link. I went for a cropped composition with two-point perspective, its a good solution to painting store-fronts. You can paint them head-on, showing the entrance, but then the sky wont show up like here. You also triangles with this composition on the four corners. 

Dépanneur YoYo two point perspective, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026
 

Fort street views, downtown flowers

Turning down Fort street I stopped off at Ernest Cormier Esplanade, a medium sized park with landscaping and art installations. Looking back on Fort street, here is a view of an old stone house in the foreground, with tall condos in the background, and Mount Royal visible in the middle. 

View up fort street summer, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

Here is one of the art installations, a copper house-like shape on a tall pole. In the background, a Victorian era mansion-style triplex. There was a cool breeze and mostly blue sky all morning. 

Architecture copper house art, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

On the corner of st Antoine and Rue Lucien-L'Allier there are good views all around. The parking lot to the south is wide open which lets the sunlight into this area, a rarity for an artist in Montreal. Towering sky-scrapers dominate the landscape here. 

Glass sky-scrapers and signage, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026

 

These wild flowers were growing on the same corner, looking east along st Antoine. A mix of yellow cone flowers and white Queen Anne's lace. The orange-brick building in the upper left is part of the Bell Center. I have more paintings from today but will post them tomorrow perhaps.  

Flowers corner downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, July 2026